This invention relates to an accessory for a medical treatment apparatus, such as for instance, a dialysis machine, and more particularly to a support assembly for a drainage tube that is used to promote the drainage of fluids from a waste side of a dialysis machine in an efficient and sanitary manner.
The kidneys perform one of the most important functions in the elimination of waste in a human body; they filter out extra water and waste, thereby cleaning the blood and facilitating production of an adequate level of red blood cells. When the kidneys fail, the fluids are retained in the blood and do not circulate in the proper fashion through the body. As a consequence, waste material builds up in the body seriously endangering health and wellbeing of the person.
Dialysis imitates the work of a kidney. Technology has developed two types of dialysis treatment: hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis. The majority of the patients receive hemodialysis, by which the blood is circulated outside the body and cleaned inside the machine before returning to the patient. The patent's blood is drained into the dialysis machine and a fluid called dialysate is also circulated through the machine. A thin, semi-permeable membrane separates the part that circulates the blood and the second part for the dialysate. As dialysate processes on one side of the membrane, and blood on the other, particles in waste from the blood stream pass through the microscopic holes formed in the membrane and are washed away in the dialysate. Blood cells being too large to go through the membrane holes are returned to the body.
The other type of treatment, peritoneal dialysis, uses the patient's own peritoneal membrane as a filter. The peritoneal membrane is a sack around the abdominal organs. This membrane is semi-permeable allowing waste particles to go through it but preventing larger blood cells to penetrate the membrane. In this type of treatment, a patient has a plastic tube catheter surgically implanted into the abdominal wall. The patient's caregiver slowly empties the dialysate fluid into the catheter and exposes the blood to the dialysate through the peritoneal membrane. Similarly to the hemodialysis method, the waste particles are removed with the dialysate and are discarded.
The peritoneal dialysis method has distinct advantages as it allows to significantly reduce the time needed for the dialysate to clean the blood and remove the waste. Additionally, the patient can perform the procedure in a non-hospital setting or at thousands of locations around the world. Such type of treatment may be administered by a caregiver that may not be very experienced in other types of the dialysis procedure.
When the patient or a caregiver performs the dialysis treatment, the waste is drained into a bag or other container, which can then be emptied into a waste receptor, such as a sink or a toilet. Needless to say, the bag is quite heavy and cumbersome to handle. Various solutions have been offered to assist in disposing of the waste drained from a medical treatment device. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,503,633 issued on Apr. 2, 1996 for “Ostomy Bag Cleaning Apparatus” discloses a device, which allows a patient to drain the waste from the ostomy bag into a toilet without disengaging the bag from the patient's body. The device uses a support for a patient at a sufficient height above a toilet bowl in the form of a platform with support bars that are mounted on the toilet. A hose attached to a house water supply allows cleaning of the ostomy bag while the patient is seated on the platform.
Another solution is offered in U.S. Patent Application No. 2002/0077608 published on Jun. 20, 2002 and entitled “Peritoneal Waste Bag Support and Drainage Device”. The application discloses a collapsible table, which supports a peritoneal waste bag in a desired location, for instance, adjacent a toilet. A waste bag is placed on top of the table, with a plug of the waste bag being oriented above the toilet bowl. The height of the legs is adjusted to allow the table to be tilted and facilitate drainage of the waste bag content by gravity directly into the toilet.
Municipal and state plumbing codes allow drainage of dialysis waste directly into the municipal waste channels. However, the municipal and state codes also require that the drainage from a fixture, device or appliance that discharges directly into a sink or other waste receptor terminate at a point below the flood level end of the sink. The same codes also require that an unobstructed horizontal distance of be formed between the outside of the indirect waste pipe and the inside of the receiving sink or toilet so as to allow a backflow of sewerage to spill over the flood level rim of the receiving sink or receptacle and thereby prevent the backflow from reaching the fixture, device, or appliance which is served by the indirect waste pipe.
Another provision of the plumbing code requires that the check valve be installed in the drain or in the sewer or drainage system to prevent sewerage or drainage from backing into lower levels through the fixtures or devices not installed sufficiently above floor or drainage systems. Therefore, any device that drains into the sink or other receptacle must be provided with a check valve or have sufficient air gap in the drainage system as required by the code. The approved air gap is at least double the diameter of the supply pipe measured vertically above the overflow rim of the vessel and in ant case, less than 1 inch. While the devices suggested by the prior art may satisfy these requirements, there is a danger that the plumbing regulations may be difficult to follow when the waste bag is positioned atop of a tilted table, with the plug being positioned too close to the overflow level.
The present invention contemplates elimination of drawbacks associated with the prior art and provision of a mounting assembly for a drainage tube that can be mounted directly on the rim of a sink or other waste receptor with sufficient air gap to satisfy the plumbing regulations.